Jurisprudence

At the moment there is a split legal situation regarding the genital mutilation of minors: While female genitalia (not only of girls, but also of women) are virtually protected against mutilation by corresponding concrete laws worldwide, male genitals are hardly anywhere explicitly protected against mutilation. Although genital mutilation is fundamentally a personal injury against the will of the person concerned, not only politicians, but also many courts bow to the pressure of religious interest groups or follow outdated information from physicians.

Here are a few examples of specific case law related to male genital mutilation:

Work in progress: The following information does not claim to be complete. More content will be added gradually.

Germany

• 2012: The so-called Cologne circumcision court judgment of 7 May 2012 has definitely gone down in history, but it has triggered a short, heated circumcision debate in Germany and the German-speaking neighboring countries, on 12 December 2012 to hasty adoption of the so-called German Circumcision Act led to the repeal of the Cologne circumcision court judgment.
• 2019: In Ascheberg, a 43-year-old Syrian surgeon was sentenced to a prison sentence of 2.5 years on 10 October 2019 for failing to carry out the foreskin amputation of a six-month-old infant and others in a professional manner.

Switzerland

• In 2019, the Zurich Supreme Court ruled that a Muslim boy should not be cut off the foreskin, although the mother wishes to do so. The circumcision would harm the child's well-being and was also not medically indicated. Meanwhile, it became known that the verdict was due to an inappropriate legal opinion only because the boy has a mental disorder.